I was the one girl to refuse him, so he had his mind set on wooing me. He was the one guy who could match me in intelligence and sport, so I had my mind set on beating him. It was a battle, but when did it turn to one of the heart? DISCONTINUED

Lakehart
was one of the most expensive private schools in Sydney, not to
mention it was one of the very few to be private and
co-ed. That meant girls and boys at the same school.

Oh my
dear god!!! Heaven on earth!

Notice the
heavy sarcasm. I'd just come from a public school, so it would be
almost the same here.

So why
would I not want to go? I hear you ask.

One:
they're all snobby, snuck-up brats, who care more about what
fashion brand they're wearing than global war.

Two: I had
a life and friends back in Armidale.

Of course,
the rest of my family was ecstatic. Before, we had never had the
money to afford more than the simplest of education. But now, my only
brother, Riley, had been drafted into the New South Wales Waratahs
Rugby Union team. My mother and I were on cloud nine about this. My
brother was famous, and now we had enough money to send me to a
private school to get a 'proper' education.

"And to
what do I owe this wonderful pleasure to? How did you find
time in you're busy schedule as a superstar to call little old me?"

"Well, I
just wanted to see how you were going," he huffed mockingly.

"I just
can't wait till school starts tomorrow! I'm going to have
such a ball!" I cried sarcastically, and mum sent me a disapproving
look. I ignored her though, and listened to Riley.

His voice
was suddenly serious, disapproving even. "Cody, I know you
can make friends easily enough. You deserve a better education than
what they have at Armidale High. You aced those classes easily. You
should be thanking me!"

I sighed.

"But you
know, Riley, how much I hate these uptight city-slickers," I
whined.

"Cody,"
Riley warned.

I sighed,
defeated.

"Fine.
For you, I'll give this Lakehart Academy a chance. Just as
long as you get me tickets to your next game in Sydney."

I
disconnected the call, and followed mum up the steps of the colonnade
to the office.

"Hi,"
she said, smiling at the secretary. "We're here to see Principal
Noland. It's Sherry Miller with my daughter, Cody."

The
secretary looked over my mum's shoulder, and spotted me sulking in
the corner. "Cody! You're starting year twelve, yes? Oh how
exciting! Sydney must very different from Armidale, yes?"

I forced a
smile and didn't say anything, sitting down on one of the plush,
velvet seats.

Armidale,
where I lived, was a rural town. It was pretty big for an outback
town, but everyone seemed to think we were all a bunch of country
hick bogans. Which we, most definitely, were not.

Mum sat
down next to me and hissed in my ear, "Be polite, Cody Rose! I
don't want any reports of you being disrespectful or anything like
that."

"Yes
mum," I droned, rolling my eyes. She didn't notice as she picked
up a magazine and started flipping through it, probably looking for
the latest 'britney scandal'.

Mum always
called me Cody Rose, never just Cody. She said it wasn't
feminine enough or something like that, even though she was
the one who chose it.

Whacked
up, I know.

I regarded
my mother, wishing I had inherited her good looks. Even though she
was getting into her late forties, she still looked radiant with
silky brown hair and bright blue eyes. Although she usually wore
jeans and a flannel shirt, she bore it all with an air of grace.

While I,
on the other hand, had dead straight brown hair, boring grey eyes and
extremely pale. I lived in Armidale for god's sake! Everyone
gets burnt and goes browner, except me. I went bright red, then pale
white. No tan, no freckles. To sum it all up, I was pasty and
uninteresting.

Riley had
turned out alright I guess, with brown hair and hazel eyes.
Everyone in our family was a brunette, except for dad. He was blonde
with hazel eyes. Well, at least he was blonde the last time we saw
him.

Probably
the coolest thing about me was my hair. I loved my hair. As I said
before, it was brown, but it had blonde streaks through it. All
naturale!

The door
opened to what I thought was the principal's office, and a
middle-aged man stepped out.

"Miss
Miller!" he boomed, and I jumped out of my seat.

"Um…
h-h-"

"I'm
Principal Noland. Would you like to follow me into my office? Oh, and
Mrs. Miller! You're from Armidale I hear? Not too cold I
hope!"

I followed
the eccentric principal into the office with a confused expression on
my face. He was preeeeeetty funny!

And people
called me weird.

I
awkwardly stood in the middle of the room, before the wooden desk, as
mum gracefully sat down in one of the plush chairs.

"Take a
seat, take a seat Miss Cody!" the principal cried.

I plonked
into the chair next to mum, and jumped when mum elbowed me.

"Sit up
straight!" she hissed, as the principal rummaged through a filing
cabinet with his back to us.

I rolled
my eyes, yet again. Mum was obsessed with manners. For
example, if anyone put their elbows on the table at dinner, it
was WHAM.

'Don't
you put your elbows on the table!'

I jumped
and blinked, as I was jolted out of my memories by the principal
beginning to speak to me.

"I would
personally like to welcome you to Lakehart Academy. I hope you find
it…"

I tuned
out as he gave the boring introductory speech. My gaze wondered to
the pictures on the walls. I snorted mentally. They were all old
men, and probably the founders of this conceited school.

I blinked
when I realized Noland had stopped talking and was holding a piece of
paper out to me.

I blinked
again and slowly reached my hand out and took the paper. Ignoring my
mum and the principal's chatter, I looked at the paper. It seemed
to be a timetable of the classes I had, and some extra information
down the bottom.

"What's…
Croft?" I asked, breaking into their conversation. Mum glared at
me, but the principal didn't seem flustered.

"Croft
is the house you're in," he explained.

"Like…
boarding house?" I asked slowly.

"Oh no.
We just have one, huge boarding house that is separated into the
boy's half and the girl's half. Croft is just the house you're
in, like for sports. There's Croft, Jerem, and Ford."

"Riiight."

We'd had
a thing like that back at Armidale, but different names. I then
proceeded to stare out the window. It was the beginning of the year,
so I saw a multitude of people pulling up in the turning circle
outside the colonnade and hauling a gargantuan amount of bags to a
massive building. I took this castle-like building to be the 'huge
boarding house'.

I watched
in disgust as a pretty blonde hauled herself out of a black
limousine. Actually, she was extremely pretty, but she still looked
like a slut. She had on a pink dress that barely covered her arse.
Actually, I bet it would just cover my arm.

I shoved
the thoughts away, thinking that I shouldn't make assumptions of
someone, just because of what they looked like.

Of course,
my little mind feet promptly stamped all over that saintly idea as
she ran, squealing I bet, towards a guy. He was too far away to see
anything other than a muscular body and bed ruffled brown hair. She
latched onto him, with her mouth and her arms.

In
Armidale, there were no cliques. Everyone was a friend with everyone,
as the year only had about forty kids. Whilst here, mum had told me
there were about two hundred.

I'd
heard about all these cliques. Well, watched movies… You know, like
Mean Girls and John Tucker Must Die. So, I guess I was
prepared.

In a way.

Principal
Noland stood up suddenly, and I jumped to my feet with him. He leaned
across the desk and smiled kindly at me, holding out his hand.

I shook
his hand awkwardly and tried to smile, as he said, "Well, I hope
you like it here Cody. You can come and see me any time you wish."

He shook
mum's hand then escorted us out with a final farewell.

"Now
what?" I asked slowly.

"First,
we have to find the uniform shop and buy your new uniform. Then,
we'll find your new room and unpack!"

"Er,
shouldn't we do it the other way around?"

Mum raised
her eyebrow at me.

"Or not,
or not! That's cool," I said hastily. Mum smiled at me and we set
off in search of the uniform shop.

:…::::…:

With
bundles of clothing and bags in my arms, I pushed the door to my room
open and stumbled in. Over the top of the bundles of uniform, I
surveyed the room. I was obviously sharing with someone, as there
were two beds in there. It had one other doorway that I guessed led
to a bathroom. There were four cupboards, two for each person.

My
roommate had taken the side furthest from the door, and her stuff was
absolutely everywhere. I dumped my stuff on my bed and turned
to mum with a raised eyebrow.

"And you
said I had a lot of stuff!" I scoffed.

Mum was
about to answer, until I heard a voice from the bathroom.

"Ally is
that you? You back already?"

The
speaker threw open the door and stepped out, the smile freezing and
her step faltering.

I nodded
and looked her over. She was gorgeous; with blondey-brown hair and
blue eyes. She was wearing a singlet and track pants, and I was glad
to see she didn't seem like too vain, even though I automatically
classed her in the snobby category. Seriously, she went to this
school.

Mum and me
were halfway through unpacking when a tall, dark brown haired girl
bounced through the doorway.

"I'm
back with the chocolate!" she sung, before she saw me and stopped
mid-bounce."Who're you?" she asked, cocking her head and
regarding me with inquisitive light green eyes.

"Cody.
I'm new."

"Ooh!
Well, I'm Ally."

To her
complete surprise, the cute girl jumped up and hugged me.

"You'll
have to excuse Ally," Liz said dryly. "She's a tad bit…
affectionate."

Ally stuck
her tongue out at Liz, surprising a laugh from me. These two didn't
seem too stuck-up, even though I could see Ally was wearing extremely
expensive clothing.

Ally and
Liz sat on her bed and started scoffing down the chocolate,
dissecting all the rumours they'd heard.

I finished
my packing and strolled outside with mum to the car. The sun was
starting to set, and we passed several students still coming into the
boarding house with their bags.

I hugged
mum tightly as we stood next to her car.

"I'll
miss you mum," I whispered.

"Honey,
you can call me whenever you want. You'll make friends here, don't
worry," she soothed.

I pulled
away and gave her a smile.

"Thanks
mum."

"Just
remember to be polite: don't judge people and remember your
manners!"

"Yes
mum."

She got in
her car and drove away, waving to me as she passed through the gates.
I gazed after mum's car mournfully.

She was
leaving me here. Here. In the rich school for bratty kids.

God help
me.

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